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Seleqseya

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Seleqṣeya (Hebrew: הסלקציה[1]) was the Israeli policy of selective immigration imposed on poor Moroccan Jews adopted in mid 1951.[2] It was applied by Cadima, the Zionist apparatus overseen by agents from Mossad LeAliyah and the Jewish Agency that administered the migration of Moroccan Jews to Israel from 1949 to 1956.[3]

History

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In the summer of 1951, the recently established State of Israel sought to severely limit the immigration of poor Moroccan Jews by adopting Seleqṣeya, a policy of selective immigration.[2] With this policy, the Jewish Agency targeted poor Moroccan Jews unable to pay their for their own immigration, families without a breadwinner in the age range of 18-45, and families with a member in need of medical care.[2] The American historian Norman Stillman described the Seleqṣeya as a "draconian and frequently cruel policy."[2] This policy was also imposed to a lesser extent upon Tunisian Jews.[2]

The policy caused bitterness among Moroccan and Maghrebi Jews.[2] It was debated among members of Israeli administration,[2] and it was rescinded in 1953 as Cadima sought to increase its activity in the twilight of French colonial rule in Morocco.[3]

Justifications

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Stillman writes that when the Seleqṣeya was imposed, the recently established State of Israel was overwhelmed with immigrants and in a state of economic crisis.[2] He adds that Jews living under French rule in the Maghreb were not perceived to be in the same kind of danger as Jews in Iraq, Yemen, and Libya.[2] He also writes that, though it was not expressed, the policy may have been influenced by the prejudice of European Ashkenazim veterans in Israel against Sephardic/Mizrahi Jews in general, and Maghrebi Jews and Moroccan Jews in particular.[2] Epithets such as Maroqo sakkin (מרוקו סכין 'Morocco of the knife) demonstrate the prejudiced view of Moroccans as primitive and violent.[2]

References

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  1. ^ מלכה, חיים (1998). הסלקציה: הסלקציה וההפליה בעלייתם וקליטתם של יהודי מרוקו וצפון-אפריקה בשנים 1948-1956 (in Hebrew). ח. מלכה.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Seleqṣeya". referenceworks. doi:10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_sim_0019550. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
  3. ^ a b "Cadima (Morocco)". referenceworks. doi:10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_sim_0004780. Retrieved 2024-09-09.